Crossing the line at the Roding Valley Half Marathon

Almost an entire month after completing my first ever official half marathon event I’ve summoned the energy to write about the painful memories of the 2 hours and 9 minutes it took me to complete the Roding Valley Half Marathon.

The preparation for this event was fairly limited, a handful of weekend 10 km runs, numerous weekday lunchtime 6 km runs, and the one full distance “see if I can last the distance” run home a couple of weeks before the actual event. Thankfully I made the distance in both the practice and the real thing.

The day itself came around pretty quickly. I felt unprepared yet ready to just run. Conditions on the day were completely atrocious having rained for the entirety of the previous night and failing to subside. On arrival at the venue, The Ashton Playing Fields in Chingford, I was driving the last car allowed into the car park, which by this point was full apart from the water-logged section which was under a foot and a half of water. I managed to squeeze into a more sensible space thankfully.

Having already registered for the event all I needed to do was turn up at the starting line and wait for the starting gun. Despite this I was not alone and fortunate enough to have a running buddy, Sharon, to accompany me. Whilst Sharon went off to register I thought I’d take the time to prepare and visit the little boys room only to find a queue of approximately 60 men winding its way around an entire changing room and through a corridor. Suffice to say with 8 minutes remaining to the off I casually walked to the back of the building and watered a tree instead.

Having prepared and reunited myself with running buddy we made our way to the starting point. Realising I hadn’t yet stretched I quickly and completely inadequately performed a series of lunges and stretch-like movements to convince myself I was ready. The gun fired and we were off in what could only be described as a shambolic display of disorganised chaos. One lap of the track and then the pack of 800 or so runners splintered into about 6 separate streams towards the exit and the rest of the course.

We were on our way. The rain was relentless, insisting on keeping us company throughout. Glad of my decision to wear a lightweight running waterproof I continues in the knowledge I would in theory be more comfortable than if I’d not worn it, as well as the GoreTex running shoes. Well, that was until half way through I realised I was soaked through to the skin, everywhere. The driving rain and wind on the exposed parts of the course were particularly interesting, or should I say painful.

The run took place on public pavements requiring us to cross the road from time to time. Whilst the course was fully marshaled (thanks marshalls – great job) we had to be mindful of the traffic which in some cases were not overly appreciative of the runners, some deciding we were not wet enough already, so took the initiative to quite deliberately drive at speed through large roadside puddles consequently sending a tsunami of muddy water over the unfortunate Lycra-clad victim. I believe the organisers are taking action to prosecute some of those car drivers.

I’m quite deliberately avoiding talk of the run itself because it was just a painful memory, especially past the 9 mile marker. Thighs, knees and ankles hurting, not to mention the onset of nipple rub. I recall at the 10 mile mark ramping up the pace to get myself motivated which was tough in those conditions. The pace lasted about 200 meters before realising what a mistake that had been. From there I just slowed further and the pain worsened. Struggling on the final mile in particular I was so glad to be on the final home straight, a long stretch of road on Snakes Lane from Woodford tube station. Whilst happy to be nearing the end I remember being conscious of attempting to attain a certain time, originally aiming for what I considered to be an ambitious 2 hours flat. At this point I had already exceeded that time and was aiming for under 2 hours 10 minutes. It was going to be close, very close. Mustering up every last atom of energy I possibly could, I approached the finish line with a burst of adrenalin induced energy, 3 seconds under the revised target time.

Retrieving my medal and goody bag I stopped running after 2 hours 9 minutes and 57 seconds. My knees buckled and I wasn’t far off collapsing. Whilst I kept thinking it was enjoyable experience in retrospect, I’m not yet convinced I’ll do another such event. I’m not particularly suited to distance running and feel much more comfortable with a mere 10 km.

A full marathon, forget about it.

If you can bear to watch it, here’s some video of the finishers in my time bracket, I’m right at the very end.

Two weeks and counting until the I “compete” in the Roding Valley Half Marathon. Nervous about never before having covered the full distance for this event (21km or 13 and a bit miles) I took it upon myself to give it a go in advance. My worst fear on the day is not being able to complete the distance, a similar feeling I’ve experienced in the past prior to participating in the 1,500 meter swim on my first olympic distance triathlon. On this occasion a visit to the local pool to kick out the 64 lengths required soon reignited the confidence in my abilities to achieve the task in hand.

Like the swim I felt it necessary to boost my confidence pre-event in an attempt to help me deal with the psychology of it all during the half marathon itself. Rather than constantly wondering during the event whether or not I’ll actually be able to complete it, I thought it best to dispel this so my mind can focus on a specific goal. So, all I needed to do was set a date and time to get the job done.

As it would happen, quite coincidentally, my cycle commute to work is approx 22 km, a little over the half marathon distance. The route starts at Loughton, Essex and finishes on Blackfriars Bridge. Perfect I thought, I’ll run home one evening. With the distance sorted I extended the “home run” invite to my running/commuting buddy, Steve. His reasons for accepting the challenging were identical to mine, so we were on. The date was set and we decided to go for it on Friday 12 Feb.

I didn’t think about it too much apart from the practicalities of what to wear to work and what I’d be carrying back. I wore my running shoes in and jettisoned what I could from my bag for the home journey, carrying only jeans, shirt and jumper, the only other addition was a 3 litre Camelbak bladder that I planned to use to fuel me up for the run.

End of the working day arrived and it was time to set off to meet Steve at the rendezvous point 3 km from work. I tanked up with water, got dressed, packed the back, acquired my GPS signal on the Garmin and off I went. The route we decided to take didn’t deviate at all from our normal cycle commute so all familiar ground.

Keen to get to the rendezvous point I realised I hadn’t stretched prior to setting off, so I took it fairly easy. Thankfully I was first to arrive so took the opportunity to stretch at that point. With the first three km in the bag, only 19 km to go, Steve arrived shortly after and we set off. Between us we had slightly different ideas of the pace we should adopt, Steve thinking 12 km/h whereas I was thinking more along the lines of 10.5, maybe 11 km/h. We agreed that as neither of us had covered the distance before we’d try for a slightly slower consistent pace throughout, as long as we could sustain it.

By the time 8 km had been covered we were both surprised at how quickly we appeared to have done it, still feeling completely comfortable. At this distance we certainly weren’t  anticipating any problems having been used to running 12km at weekends on a regular basis. We soon established a very consistent pace at which the legs were just working automatically.

Approaching the halfway mark on the Lee Bridge Road we both started to tighten up a little and began to feel the effects. Whilst I took the opportunity to water a tree, Steve stretched out a little easing the tightness that had come on especially since the temperature dropped. We continued and whilst chatting comfortably decided to set some landmarks for us to aim which we hoped would keep us motivated. The first big one was the North Circular junction about 4km away. Running through the busiest section in the Walthamstow area, we were weaving in and out of pedestrians and stopping and starting for the many traffic junctions in the area. Glad to pass the bustle we were that much closer to our first checkpoint.

Arriving at our first landmark we’d covered around 14km, more than either of us had run in a single session previously. I needed to stretch as the calves were feeling tight and the knees a little sore. Continuing, the next landmark was only another few kilometres away, Woodford Green. From here we knew there was one more major difficulty to overcome, a long 2.5km steady incline towards Buckhurst Hill. On the bike this was a quick section and despite the steady slope it wasn’t too slow whilst running either. However, I could really start to feel the joints when hopping up and down the kerbs to cross roads, it was all starting to hurt, but so far in a manageable way.

Reaching the top at Buckhurst Hill we were well on our way with only the home stretch to complete. We had another 2 or 3 km left to run before we arrived in Loughton and whilst Steve tried to keep to the grass verge to minimise the impact of the pavement, I had found my stride on the tarmac and continued there rather than feel the slight resistance of softer ground.

By the time we started our decline down the steep High Road through the forest we were very much feeling the pain, and to the casual observer no doubt looked like a pair of geriatric hobbling our way down the hill at a pace we attempted as much as possible to keep constant to avoid the variance and accompanying pain. By this point the knees were taking the brunt of the impact. We could also feel the cold much more now that we were in the sticks and despite the merino wool base layers, were feeling the cold sweat on our backs. My back was being constantly battered by the loosely fitted backpack which was slowly put persistently bouncing off the same part of my lower back for the entire journey. It was only now that I started to feel the tenderness it was causing.

By this time we were both constantly looking at our watches to gauge distance. Surely that was it? but no, metre by metre we closed it down each time thinking it couldn’t be much further. Arriving in the high street my watch beeped to indicate 21km completed so we decided to call it. The moment we stopped running and slowed to a walk I experienced a sensation I’d never before encountered, my legs suddenly felt weightless as if they were levitating with every step I walked. Very strange.

Relieved, we congratulated each other and despite the fairly slow time were happy we’d achieved the half marathon distance. Then we began making our excuses for the time, traffic lights, running after a full day’s work, carrying backpacks, etc. All good reason why we might not have gone faster, but in reality we were both pretty content and also confident we couldn’t have gone much faster even if we’d tried. I’m just glad we went off at the pace we did instead of the more ambitious speed suggested at the start.

Overall we managed to run 22.03km in a time of 2 hours 21 minutes, averaging a slower than expected 9.4 km/h. You can see the entire route play out with split stats for each kilometre at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/24519443

If this has helped me in any way, it’ll be in the knowledge that I have achieved the distance, something I won’t necessarily have to worry about whilst competing in the real thing in two weeks time. Hope fully I can focus on a pace that is constant whilst aiming for around the two hour mark. If I hit that I’ll be very happy indeed.

Roding Valley Half Marathon course map

The Roding Valley Half Marathon, my first “competitive” event of 2010 looms closer taking place on 28 February. I’ve never run further than 10km previously, and to this day still haven’t run past the 12.5km mark, so yet to know if I’m able to last the extra 9.5km that I’ve not run previously.

I do keep asking myself why? Why? Why am I doing this? A discipline which I’m least equipped to participate in yet entering distance events. Apart from the usual peer pressure, I honestly think it will go some way to improving fitness for the tri season ahead. A bit of early year stimulus can’t hurt, can it?

Whilst I’m reasonably confident I can complete the distance, I’m not sure my knees will feel the same level of elation as the rest of me having crossed the line. Currently, both require the added comfort and support of elasticised Tubigrip style knee supports, which whilst running feel OK, but without them the vulnerability kicks in.

On the occasion that the pain kicks in, it feels like the knee follows through so to speak and continues to bend against the joint. In fact that’s what may be happening. It happens most when I’m swimming and I realise that I’ve kicked too hard at the knee joint, a bad sign in itself because good technique suggests the leg should be straight from the thigh down to the ankle, I’ll have to work on that. It also happened when I’m running. Nonetheless, the thought of it alone makes me cringe. If anyone knows the technical name for that condition, let me know…

In any case, I’ll press on with the training. Aiming for a sub 2 hour time, which according to my calculations should be attainable if I manage a constant slow pace of around 10.5km/h. Training currently consists of a couple of lunchtime runs each at around 7.5km and averaging 12km/h and a longer weekend run where I’m looking to increase the distance each week until the event, current distance 12.5 km at a steady pace.

If anyone has any good tips for quickly building up to half marathon distance in 4-5 weeks, feel free to comment below and share the advice. Gawd knows I could do with it.

For now, happy training…

Blenheim Tri Sprint course map

Quite unexpectedly I recently signed myself up for this year’s Blenheim Triathlon. It wasn’t an event I was planning to participate in as I’d already signed up for the Windsor Triathlon olympic distance taking place the following weekend on 13 June, but I caved under the peer pressure not wanting to miss out on an event that all my mates were going to be talking about.

Now, I’m not entirely sure what this is going to do to the training regime as I certainly hadn’t planned on two triathlons on two consecutive weekends. The other guys are treating this as a “training” tri, which is fine for them as long as they realise what they’ve let themselves in for. I suppose the Blenheim is a sprint distance event, although I don’t for one minute think that because it’s a shorter event it should be regarded or treated with any less respect or importance as a longer distance event.

Saying that I believe that I am more suited to the standard distance (olympic) as I typically take a fair while to get into the swing of an event, normally taking half the swim distance to effectively warm up. By then I find my breathing is a little more under control (I can actually breath) and I’m thinking about the next leg, the cycle where I am more capable of making up some time.

One thing about Blenheim however is the bike route is quite technical in that it’s fairly undulating to say the least. My riding style is suited to terrain where I can gradually build up a steady and fast pace and maintain for as long as I can bare to, not too dissimilar to a big heavy steam train. I find Blenheim way too disruptive, too many ups and downs, although last years’ wet course didn’t help the cornering which was lethal, and interesting over cattle grids. Another reason I wasn’t intending to sign-up.

The London olympic distance I have to say is one I am very comfortable with. The course is flat and fast despite the strong head wind that tends to beat you down on the bike leg heading towards central London.

Windsor Triathlon on the other hand is making me a little nervous. It’s completely new to me and from what I understand is reasonably technical. Participating in the olympic distance, the swim sounds horrendous, having to fight against the current of the River Thames one way, but hopefully being pushed along a little the other way, I’m hoping. And the run is another of those “undulating” course. sounds pretty knackering to me.

Anyway, this year is a tri of tri’s for me. I’m kicking off with a half marathon towards the end of February, again an event or distance that is new to me. My training hasn’t even really started and I’m still carrying the joys of Christmas on my belly.

I’m thinking I better get cracking with both training and diet. Here’s to a happy and healthy 2010. More later.

Edvald Boasson Hagen comfortably sealed overall victory in The Tour of Britain, as Italian Michele Merlo sprinted to victory in an action packed stage in front of thousands of spectators in central London.  Boasson Hagen crossed the line safely in the peloton to confirm victory; only his second overall win in a stage race.

Tour of Britain, www.tourofbritain.co.uk

This video, one of a series is the first explaining how the Cervélo Team started.

Right blade of fork

I’ve owned my Planet X SL Pro Carbon road bike for two years now. Originally purchased directly from Planet X via the Halfords cycle to work scheme I can honestly say that I’m very happy with this purchase, one of my best bike buys to date.

Value and service?

In terms of value, it can’t really be knocked. There are (or at least were) several comparative deals on other brands which I considered at the time, including Focus, Wilier, Ribble, and Orbea bikes. I paid £999 for my Planet X back in the summer of 2007, at the time specified with Shimano 105 brakes and transmission, and a Full Speed Ahead chainset. Since then, the bike has been offered at different price points between £999 and £1,600 plus, in a variety of flavours including Ultegra, Dura Ace and and now SRAM Red. Every now and then I see it available for under the £1K mark with Ultegra, a great deal!

When I first bought it, I spec’d the bike over the phone during an in-depth conversation with the guys at Planet X, who incidentally are very helpful. Great service!

They asked what style of riding I do, the typical terrain I ride, my weight, body measurements etc. On that basis they built the appropriate bike for me (frame size (Small), crank lengths (170 mm), stem lengths (100 mm), number of front chainrings (2), etc). As a result the bike is perfectly fitted and rides beautifully. It’s geometry is not at all aggressive, so provides a comfortable ride experience without having to be to far over the front of the bike with your arse in the air.

The combination of geometry and materials makes for a positive ride experience allowing quick and powerful acceleration. The bike climbs well and is very stable under pedal.

How does it ride?

I’ve ridden it mostly on a range of undulating Essex and Hertfordshire country roads. It’s also gone multi-purpose and served as my weapon of choice in several triathlons, hence the aero bars in the image gallery below.

In no uncertain terms I’m extremely surprised at how comfortable it is. I’ve never experienced back ache after riding the bike, and have always felt it to be setup in a very natural position for riding, so comfortable on longer rides, perfect for sportive.

Thinking about when I first picked it up and took her out for a spin I was shocked at the power transfer to the rear wheel from the pedal, blistering. It felt really twitchy and I was genuinely scared when taking it for a full speed straight road blast. The speed pick-up was quick, great acceleration throughout and the responsiveness, tracking and feedback was incredible. Bear in mind back then I hadn’t ridden a road bike for 16 years and was only used to comparatively bouncy MTBs, so the difference was immense.

When I ride the bike now I love the precision of it as well as the highly engineered feel. I adore the clean, snappy gear changes, and having picked up speed I’m really liking the noise of the whirring wheels and efficiently sharp transmission.

Having upgraded my old SPD pedals to Ultegra SPD SLs I can feel even more positivity through the drive.

I love it to bits.

What does it look like?

Check out the images below. Click on the first image to view a gallery of larger images.

The frame set you see in the pictures below is now FOR SALE. Click here for details

Do you own/ride a carbon road bike, or want to ride one. What are your experiences? Let us know below…

“…one of those sports where there are so many rewards…” Couldn’t agree with you more, Tim.

If you didn’t catch the on-board video, have a look at Video: Building’s track day at Herne Hill Velodrome

Although I was attending on official work business, I felt privileged to be doing so at the legendary Herne Hill Velodrome for this quite excellent event in the construction industry event calendar. In my capacity as on-board cameraman, supporting photographer and general assistant host it was an absolute pleasure to meet the cycling aficionado’s of the construction industry.

For the second time since it’s inauguration last year, a 40 strong contingent turned out to thrash it out on the legendary concrete track in south London. As the more seasoned swapped out pedals and fine tuned their machines, the less acquainted familiarised themselves with their gear-less, brake-less steeds.

The order of events consisted of:

Event 1: 8 Lap Scratch Race (3 heats)
Event 2: Keirin Heats
Event 3: Keirin Final
Event 4: 10 Lap Points Race
Event 5: Team sprint

The day was a roaring success. In the 30 degree heat we battled it out. Below is the rider’s perspective of the 8 lap scratch race heat, a little bumpy but I hope you enjoy.

My splits went like this:

On the whole the experience was one of mostly positive mixed emotions, excitement, nervousness, tension, and at times panic. I felt much more at ease this year than I remember feeling about the last two years at the London Triathlon. In each discipline I undoubtedly felt more comfortable, especially on the bike and run legs. The swim was still very tough especially during those first few hundred metres, but this event was the first I can recall actually enjoying the swim, once I was past the half way point.

It felt larger than ever before, and indeed it was, evident throughout by the longer times to get around the transition area pre and post race. A symptom of both the event and the sport’s success, which is good news by all accounts.

Hoping to maybe fit in another one, possibly two more triathlons this season to keep the momentum going and avoid slowing down too much for the winter, something I’ve been guilty of in the past. Hopefully by maintaining decent fitness throughout the winter and keeping the pounds off and ideally shedding more I can launch into next year’s events with renewed fitness rather than having to focus on weight reduction first.

To keep motivated I’m glad to say that myself and my compadres (known as Team Ting Tong – don’t ask why) have already stumped up and entered into the 2010 event securing ourselves another bout with the Victoria Dock. I’m looking forward to it already.

On the whole another thoroughly enjoyable event, made even more pleasurable by the presence and support of my family and friends. Thanks!

“Try get in a lake, it is different. In a swimming pool try swimming a length with your eyes closed and you’ll be bashing off the lane rope, because that’s what happens in triathlon…”

Courtesy of the latest ads from Oakley

That's me heading back towards the Excel to complete the first lap

Now onto the third and final leg of the London Triathlon 2009 the swim feels like a distant memory.

The run section has always been my nemesis to a certain extent. My physique hasn’t typically been suited to running and still isn’t, I can’t imagine it ever will be but it’s something I’ve been working on over the past six months or so. Nonetheless, I’ve always tended to struggle with the run either through dehydration or general tiredness.

My run out from T2 lasted a total of 4 minutes and 2 seconds (including running the bike back in) which although could’ve been quicker was respectable enough. I needed the breather to be honest.

Anyway, the run out was surprisingly more comfortable than anticipated. Usually I’m hobbling along with jelly legs, holding my cramp pained stomach in my hands. This was a far more pleasant experience where thankfully none of those symptoms were present. Instead, I was suffering from a full bladder, a side effect of over-hydrating I guess. My mind was wondering what to do, should I continue for the entire run with the uncomfortable sensation, or should I do a Paula Radcliffe and do something about it without bothering to stop. I opted for a halfway house, not being as dedicated as Paula I actually took the opportunity to relieve myself in a corner around the back of the Excel. Perfect!

Relieved of some extra weight I confidently headed away from the main building and around the first turn where runners were handed gels one of which I grabbed and consciously decided to consume no more than a quick sip of the Raspberry flavoured gloop and leave the rest, tossing the remainder towards one of the bins provided. Not sure I could stomach too much of that stuff, it does no favours for your guts.

Running away from the exhibition centre and over the newly installed temporary ramp that crosses the car park entrance I spot my family at the bottom of the ramp, a great boost at a well timed point in the race. Surprisingly I was was feeling strong despite having pushed hard on the bike leg, a welcome feeling. As a result I thought about how fast I could push the run and decided to push harder at that point where I maintained a pace beyond my usual. This was a little unusual, but I went with it.

Feeling comfortable as I pounded the dock side where last year I remember slowing to deal with stomach cramps, I noticed Gavin coming towards me in the opposite direction heading back to the Excel to complete his first of two laps. Following twenty or so seconds behind him was Simon who I acknowledged as we passed each other. OK, that only leaves Steve who I suspected wouldn’t be too far behind. Indeed, another kilometre down the course and several minutes later I spied Steve’s tall frame bounding towards me.

As I passed Steve I began making some calculations in my head about the remaining distances and current time frames. I couldn’t have been more than ten minutes behind Steve, which filled me with confidence. I pushed a little harder.

As I approached the turning point for the first lap (2.5 km) I was keen to find out my time, interested to know what I had to do to beat last years time to attain a PB. I knew my swim time was awful, like last year, but I knew the bike leg was strong, in fact particularly fast, and my running fitness had improved, however I had no idea about the time I could achieve. I was hoping for a sub 2 hours 50 minutes.

To keep the pace moving I was chasing down runners ahead of me, picking them off one by one, a useful technique by the way. Feeling good and keeping myself hydrated I made sure to take a sip of water from each water station.

Heading past my fan base (thanks yet again) I was on my way to completing the first lap. The 5km point was in or around the Excel building where the large digital clock hanging over the finish line was visible to the left. As I ran past the turning point I glanced over to see the time, which having worked it out a couple of times suggested that I’d been on the go for 2 hours and 20 minutes. Whoa, it then occurred to me that if I completed the next 5km in 25 minutes I’d smash my goal by five minutes. The thought drove me to go harder, or as hard as I could.

I promised myself that this year I would be more focused on the job in hand and less concerned about distracting myself by those around me. It was working and on that final lap I was determined to catch that PB. By the time I hit the 7.5 km mark I knew the end was near and the extra effort would be worth the pain. Mild stomach cramp started to set in, but I kept focusing on the pace and tracking the man in front down. Still feeling strong despite the mild cramp I persevered.

Not far now as I approach the twists and turns as the coarse nears the Excel along the dock side. The temporary ramp is in sight and at this point I know it’s the final push. Keep going, keep running, I pushed it up the final ramp and around the corner into the building where the cheers become more evident and the crowds thicker. Where last time round I was turning right to do another lap I had to bear left to the finish line. As I turned onto the wide red carpeted final straight I was focused purely on the space beneath the large digital clock. In my peripheral vision I could spot my family cheering me through. What a buzz rush as I crossed that line.

Over the line with my goodies and pride intact

As soon as I ran through the finish I’m quickly adorned with my finishers medal, a nice square bronze looking thing with a thick blue ribbon. I’m also handed bottles of water and energy drink as well as a nice towel courtesy of Virgin Media. A little disorientated I join a queue to what appears to be the exit into the main expo area where the crowds of supporters have been patiently waiting for their athletes to cross the line. It turns out we’re queuing to get our photo taken. Just then it occurred to me that I hadn’t taken note of my finishing time, which must’ve happened a couple of minutes prior. By the time I made some rough calculations the realisation hit me, I completed in approx. 2 hours 45 minutes making me a very happy person indeed, significantly improving on last year’s time and giving me a respectable PB.

When the final official timings came through I was pleasantly surprised to learn I had completed in 2 hours 43 minutes and 41 seconds, beating my previous PB by a whole 15 minutes. Impressed by my own performance I met up with my fellow athletes who had each also gained new personal best times two of whom, Gavin and Simon, cracked their ambition to break the 2:30 mark, an impressive feat by anyone’s standards.

On top of this it was a great feeling to be met by close friends and family and their very supportive congratulations. Awesome, I can’t wait to do it again next year.

Coming soon, a summary of the London Triathlon 2009…

Read Part 1 all about the swim leg and

Read Part 2 all about the bike leg

L-R: Steve (holding Lottie), Paul (Me), Gav, Simon

A full two days have passed since completing this years Olympic distance course of the Mazda London Triathlon based at the massive Excel in London’s Docklands.

Having dropped the bike off at transition the day before the big event, I eventually arrived at the venue on the Sunday and quickly tracked down and met up with my race buddies Gav, Simon and Steve. Gladly it wasn’t just me who was feeling hyper nervous, we all felt the same way with churning stomachs and the shakes.

Having attended the pre-recorded race briefing we anxiously made our way to transition where we (wet) suited up, applied timing chips, readied our bike and running gear for (hopefully) speedy transitions and then slowly headed to the swim meeting point where it all begins. Here we are given a secondary briefing by the race organiser and encouraged to support each other to the chants of Oggy oggy oggy, then we make our way into the water.

Having tread water for 5 minutes in the Albert Dock we have a final chant of
Oggy oggy oggy followed by the long anticipated starting klaxon. Slowly, the 405 participants of this 14:10 wave begin the 1,500 metre swim out to a blue
buoy sitting somewhere beyond the horizon and then back to Excel for T1.

Well that’s how it all started. Then it continued…

My plan was to approach the swim in a relaxed way, hoping for a consistent pace and relying on the  buoyancy of the wetsuit to keep me afloat whilst I propelled myself with a good stroke, the reality however was somewhat different. Despite feeling comfortable during the build up as well as the first 10 strokes, the melee began and like a shoal of fish chasing a single piece of bread we headed off towards the first turning point, hands brushing feet, feet kicking faces, splash, breathe, splash, breathe breathe. Slowing to breast stroke to avoid swimming over the guy in front whilst avoiding being swam over.

Finally some clear water. OK, now concentrate on breathing and establishing some sort of rhythm to carry me through. It must have been when approaching the 650 meter mark that I finally got into a sustainable rhythm and managed a consistent pace. The midway turning point proved to be just that. Once the home stretch was in sight and the waters cleared it became easier to focus on just the swimming and not the other bodies, breathing, the cold, and the constant noise of jet planes taking off overhead from nearby City Airport.

I found myself pacing with two other competitors who kept me on a straight line to the exit point apart from the couple of times I bounced off the swimming lane marker rope, bear in mind visibility in this water is no more than 20 inches. I can even remember thinking how much I was enjoying the swim at one point, something I never would’ve imagined.

Exiting the swim stage removing wetsuit, cap and goggles whilst completely disorientated

Final push to the exit ramp keeping my head down and and pushing the front crawl until I could touch the floating pontoon at which point I was thankfully helped up by one of the many fantastic event marshalls and proceeded up the ramp and onto dry land. Adjusting to the solid ground under foot and recovering from the dizziness whilst hearing muffled cheers of support another marshall was thrusting a large clear bag at me into which I had to put my wetsuit, cap and goggles. It felt like an eternity taking that wetsuit off whilst still coming to terms with being out of the water. I eventually scraped the suit off at which point I spotted my support team (family and friends – thanks so much for your support and encouragement) who spurred me on to the next phase, T1, the first of two transitions, this being the bike transition.

Swim completed in a fairly disappointing 40 minutes and 19 seconds, it took me another 4 minutes 58 seconds to complete T1, which involved running up an extremely slippery set of stairs plus approx. another 200 meters to my racking point where I dumped my swim gear and donned my helmet, glasses and cleated bike shoes, then grabbed my bike and ran a further – what seemed like – 800 meters on a treacherously slippery surface to the bike mounting point where I could finally start the ride proper.

Read Part 2 all about the bike leg and

Read Part 3 all about the run leg

With 18 days to go, training is finally gathering pace, somewhat late you might say, but hey, hoping that the Blenheim Tri will be more of a training event for the upcoming London Tri at the beginning of August. It starts here and now.

This week has been fairly physical. So far, 4 x 22 km rides (commutes), 1 x 1,750 m swim, and 1 x 5 km run. At least it’s something every day. The only trouble is that soon I’ll have to begin tapering down for the main event. Feeling confident that I’m almost ready for the sprint event, which should be a good prelude to the longer Olympic distance of the London Tri.

Another good piece of news is that my 3 other Tri buddies are competing in the same wave, so at least we’ll be starting together, and hopefully finishing not too far apart from each other.

Hoping to fit another run in tomorrow lunchtime, which to be honest I’m finding the hardest discipline to get motivated about. I’m simply not built for running, cycling yes, but running, no. I’ll maintain my steady pace of around 11.5 km/hour hopefully and complete the run in approx 27 minutes, slowly but surely.

More later…

Rather than talk about what I haven’t done I’ll tell you about what I have done. Despite my promises to start training in a more serious way eight weeks back, I’ve been fair weather training and eating to my heart’s content. My first triathlon on the season is in less than three weeks and today feels like the first day of real training.

Having not cycled into work for the past two weeks, not gone for a serious run of any kind for a least three, and not gone for a swim since last year at some point I can’t even remember, today I worked it.

Cycled into work, head wind was strong but I battled through. The ride home was fast so either I had a tail wind helping me along, or all that energy I was storing up burst into my ride home, probably the best time I’ve achieved since riding to/from work. Then, in the evening I managed an unexpected and rather stonking 70 laps of my local pool.

Damn, I’ve never seen so many plasters and hair bands in my life, all on the floor of the pool, minging! Anyway, I must’ve burnt a few thousand calories and don’t even feel I was compensating for anything I ate today.

So the question is, can I keep this up, or is it going to be a flash in the pan training session? It’s hardly as if I’ve committed myself to a hard core training regime of any sort. Anyway, yet again I’ll keep you informed.

Hoping to do a quick 5 km at lunchtime tomorrow. Will let you know…

Following last year’s London Triathlon where I attained a personal best under the 3 hour mark, I vowed to strengthen the two disciplines that let me down the most, the swim and the run. You simply can’t rely on the one stronger discipline, cycling in my case to achieve a significantly better time.

Training for last year’s London event consisted of 4 months of cycle commuting, 2-3 times a week, a couple of 5km runs each week and a single swim at the local pool to make sure I could last the distance. Pretty pathetic, however, it got me through and quite clearly the more you put in the more you get out.

Since the beginning of this year I’ve managed one swim and was hoping to go for another today, however that’s not going to happen due to family commitments, or is it just Sunday laziness, or is it because I’m writing this instead of hammering out some lengths at the local pool? I will swim more; I must swim more this year. Surely a bit of effort at least once a week and I could shave five minutes off last year’s swim time. Surely?

On the bike front, I’m happy that I will have done enough. Ramping the commute up to a constant three times a week, 6 x 15 miles will certainly help along with the weekend roadie and MTB outings. Sorted, although I could do without the head wind this year.

When it comes to the run, I’m hoping to shave another 5 minutes off my PB. Optimistic? I’m unsure at this point. Lunchtime runs are slowly becoming routine calendar events for Tuesday’s and Thursday’s, each a 5km blast along the north and south side of the River Thames. The weekend 10km runs will add a little stamina to the training, although I suspect I need to make these a more regular feature of my weekends.

Besides the three main activities, there’s another major part of my training regime that simply isn’t coming together as effectively, my diet. I love food, I love eating, I don’t want to have to not eat as much, but will have to try. I’ll let you know how that goes from now as I attempt to curb my calorie intake.

As part of the physical aspect of the training, I’m also recording it using my Garmin Forerunner 405. You can see training progress on the Garmin Connect site, as well as my regular updates on my Twitter. What I also hope to do soon is put together a rolling graph of my progress over the next few months.

Let’s see how it goes in the lead up to the Blenheim tri, which is eleven weeks away. Panic!

Thought I’d have a go at filming a road ride with the intention of presenting a film with a time lapsed effect, rather than bore you with the full hour and a half of fantastic road riding – you had to be there to appreciate it. Having filmed most of the 1.5 hour ride, I say most because the camera ran out of memory onto which to record the remainder (Note: Remember to clear down the SD card before filming next time), the ride has been condensed down to just over a more managable 8 minutes of viewing, 10 times realtime speed.

The map above shows the route we took through the Essex countryside. Click for a larger version

During these past three weeks I’ve slowly felt my body turn soft and sag around the mid region. The past weekend of over indulgent fast food, boozing, and Valentine’s meals has more than taken its toll on the body tipping it to wobbly status, again. So today for the first time in around three weeks I finally summoned the motivation to don my Lycra and baggies and brave the ride into work.

It took longer than usual to get ready this morning and needed to check the bike over, all OK. Despite my initial concerns over fitness drain, once on the road, it didn’t feel as bad as I expected, saved by lunchtime and weekend runs which evidently maintained fitness levels. Only now as I write this can I feel the over tightness of my calves. Note to self: Must remember to stretch before and after ride.

The training runs by the way would appear to be having a positive effect on general fitness as average heart rate is dropping and speed is increasing. Good stats.

Talking of stats, I need to provide a short-term review of the Garmin Forerunner 405 training watch that I’ve been using since Christmas. I like it. Today I cycled 45.21 km and burnt 2,522 calories, average heart rate over the ride in/out was 139, which isn’t too bad, I think.

Anyway, glad I rode in today. Will run tomorrow lunchtime and ride in again on Friday, weather permitting.

Later.

Garmin Forerunner 405

OK, Christmas has come and gone and we’re now suffering the repercussions of the New Year celebrations as well as adjusting to the thought of returning to work. One of many things that I’m taking away from it all is my latest toy, the Garmin Forerunner 405, a personal training watch. A mere week into ownership it’s too soon to tell how effective it will be in changing my training habits to improve performance, but I’m impressed with it.

In the short time I’ve had to play with it I’ve been on 4 runs (2 x 5km, 2 x 10km) and 1 bike ride, on each occasion it accurately recorded an extensive range of information from speed, heart rate, calories, distance, HR range, in fact something like 35 different measurements some of which I’m yet to understand.

It’s a nice toy to accompany me on a run, in fact it has a built in “virtual partner” that you can use to pace your run. Once the GPS has been acquired, which doesn’t take long, it accurately tracks and records the training event automatically, storing the huge range of data mentioned above.

Over the next few weeks I’ll provide a more extensive review, but in the meantime, it’s a bit of a winner. I only hope it contributes to improving my chances of becoming one, not that I expect it any time soon. More soon.

The GRIM Duathlon happened a few weeks ago now and the effects have worn off, thankfully. That was the first time I used my legs to “run” since the London Triathlon in the summer. Today, I ran again.

It always helps to run with a friend, which I did today. On my own I tend to think about the running too much, breathing and stuff like that. With company I tend to just get on with it, talk, run, breath, breath, run, etc. The distraction of company certainly helps, doesn’t it?

Despite not running for a while as well as not being in the best of shape, we managed quite well to pace ourselves through the off-road bridle paths of Epping Forest. The new route to the as yet new destination of Connaught Waters was a spontaneous decision that worked out pretty well. The myriad of trails and tracks were laid before us to confuse and misguide us, but we found our way, albeit via the scenic route.

Fortunately, today I made the effort to stretch prior to leaving the house. This no doubt prevented the inevitable cramps that may have followed otherwise – bring back memories of the GRIM.

Anyhow, it was absolutely hammering it down outside, which is fine I guess but it does tend to fill those puddles up a little turning them into something resembling mini ponds, making for some interesting running moves involving hoping and jumping around the trails to avoid getting too badly splattered in mud. After a while of course you just get on with it and it matters no more, just like the breathing part of it, I suppose.

Once those first 10-15 minutes are done, the worries about breathing, pace, cadence, comfort etc just ease right off. Gotta say, the stretching really does make all the difference. I know this sounds pretty obvious, but I imagine so many of us “forget” to actually do a set of pre-run stretches and instead just get straight into it. The same has to be said for the stretch down, so don’t forget to do that either.

This looks like a pretty useful read for the beginners amongst us, RW’s BIG Beginners’ Index. I’ll be sure to have a scan of that before the next venture out.

Oh well, until the next time …

The delay in posting, having thought about it may be due to the mental block suffered as part of my participation. Scarred by the experience, I’ve only just recovered enough to write about it. In honesty, it wasn’t that bad, but it was no walk in the park either.

Having completed the London triathlon back in the summer, myself and a few close buddies that took part thought it a good idea to enter an event that would keep the fitness levels up and provide a challenge before the year end. After a bit of Googling, we came across the GRIM Duathlon, a new event that entails 5 km run, 20 km off-road bike, then another 5 km run, all cross-country based terrain, on an army training facility in Aldershot, Surrey.

Not knowing what to expect we turned up to what was a very well organised and run event. There were plenty of fairly serious competitors mixed in with the more have-a-go types, like myself, all of which contributed to a fun vibe throughout. Before the starting gun fired I took advantage of the portaloo facilities, which considering the location were well kept, providing a surprisingly sanitised experience. Having flushed my system of the morning coffee and nervousness, I set off towards the starting line where my two mates were.

Final stretches (not enough), event briefing done, BANG! We’re off, to what is a relatively slow start, building up pace the field begin to spread out. Looking ahead I noticed a pinch point as we entered the forest section, not quite sure what was going on I just followed the crowd, then oh oh, we have to drop into a mud filled river bed, wading waist deep through water. Great! As I scrambled up the river bank on the other side the squelching of my soaked trainers turned into my pacemaker. What I thought would give me an advantage turned out to do opposite, unfortunately, when drenched, Gore-Tex shoes hold water, rather than keep it out. Oh well.

Completing the first run section, I eventually climbed onto my bike and pretty quickly found a speedy pace. The bike section, not surprisingly, is my stronger discipline, which became clearer when I realised that throughout the entire bike section, not a single person overtook me. Granted, the majority of the 300 strong field were already ahead of me (well, half of them anyway), but I must’ve passed at least 120 fellow competitors. I was blasting the bike course which consisted mainly of fire road mixed in with some off-road, mud moguls, and boggy hill climbs. Trying to gain any advantage I could on the bike, I was motoring along up until the point I felt my calves ceasing up. They got worse to the point of agonising pain at which point I had to get off the bike, walk and stretch it out until I could bare the pain whilst riding.

Fortunately, I was close to the end of the bike section when it got bad, but I made it to the next transition where I stretched, changed back into my drenched running shoes from my SPDs, then made it out again on the final leg. This I knew was not going to be fun and was more to do with stamina, patience and endurance than anything else. Stopping regularly to stretch, I made sure that I was able to keep running, or hobbling until finally reaching the finish line 5 km later, 167th of 300, taking 2 hours 18 minutes. Despite the pain I was gained a sense of satisfaction and on the whole it was actually a fun event.

On reflection, If I’d known about the terrain I would have used different tyres to cope with the soft, sandy ground. This could’ve given me at least a couple of minutes on the bike section. The run (or hobbling jog) on the other hand, could’ve been improved with some basic preparation, or training come to that. Now at least I’ll know for next time.

Keep checking back for the next event…

It all came back to me as myself and three other tri buddies attended the pre event open water training session. Despite not having trained for the swim part of the race – and I still haven’t with only two weeks remaining – it was all worse than I actually remember.

There was one little gem that came out of it for me, and that was “flush the wetsuit”. I only wish I’d attended this session last year instead of wearing the wetsuit for the first time at the event without prior training or advice. When we dived in and took the first few strokes it was as if someone had taken my breath from me and I didn’t know how to move my arms, not fun I assure you.

After one lap we were asked to get out and “flush” the wetsuit. This involves flooding the wetsuit with water through the neck opening whilst in the water, then once out of the water, releasing it through the wetsuit until all water is effectively squeezed out. The difference was amazing, I could swim again.

You live and learn, only this time I wish I’d had more opportunity to do some swim training. Maybe next year…

Oh dear. Will they never learn…

Update: Manuel Beltran positive for EPO – Confirmation from French anti-doping agency [Bikeradar - Roadie News]

Despite the improvement in strength and general fitness, it became very evident that more had to be done, especially following a 10 Km forest run, which seemed to drain every remaining ounce of energy I had left in my exhausted body.

In a vain effort to make up for lost ground, I sense I may have overdone it on the riding in to work front, when after the fourth ride during my second week I attempted a brick session consisting of a run directly after the 16 mile ride home. This truly did me in, and for the remaining weekend completely wiped me out, so much so that I didn’t feel up to the scheduled Monday morning ride into work. I must say that I was grateful of the rest and as a result felt stronger for it.

This week has been a bit of a write of due to the horrendous rainy conditions. I know what you’re thinking, but I really couldn’t face riding to work in those abysmal conditions. Only today did I muster up the energy to commute in, and even managed a 5 Km lunchtime run, which wasn’t as bad as it could have been. The ride home was strong, so there’s hope yet.

The Tour de France has started, which always makes for good inspiring watching. You’ve got to love Wikipedia for the excellent info on Le Tour. Check it out at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_de_France

One thing that surprised me was the relative ease at which I've got accustomed to the ride into work. I remember first time around that it took me a good two to three weeks to get into it and get to the point where I didn't feel my lungs were going to explode. Mind you, I did used to smoke back then.

As a non smoker for at least a good year and a half, that in itself has contributed to easier exercising and faster reintegration into an exercise regime. I suppose my occasional rides over the past few months have also helped, but it really does feel easier.

Getting into it so much that I’ve already invested in a nice little Cateye computer. I decided to go for a wired version of the Strada. Works nicely and gives me something to compare each day I ride in and out of work. Best time so far is 55 minutes on the way home. It seems a little faster on the way home, despite the home destination being at a higher altitude.

Riding into work tomorrow morning and more than likely riding home again. Hopefully this will provide a good warm-up for the planned Saturday afternoon ride around the Essex loop on the ride bikes.

More soon…

OK, so I hadn’t been on a training run for a good 4 days, but why would I lose my run fitness in such a short space of time? Diet? fitness? Who knows?

The run itself was OK, although I admit to struggling a bit for the first 40 minutes of the 55 that I did run. Personally, I blame it on the giant mosquitoes that appeared to consume the lower 70% of my two legs, or possibly the pre-existing complaint in my right foot, if it actually existed. It was a hot evening, so did I drink enough water beforehand? I could come up with a few more excuses if I wanted to, but I know the truth as I suspect you do. I’m not training enough; it’s as simple as that.

With this in mind I’m keen to accelerate my general fitness, speed and stamina, so am preparing to commute into work for one or two days a week, that’s a 15 mile cycle to work and another 15 back. Despite having prepared my hack bike for the event, I took it upon myself to pimp it up a little by using some of the components from my old and now unused full susser.

I’m probably missing the point of a hack bike, but I don’t care. I want to have my carbon fibre bars, my Marzocchi MX Comp ETA forks, XT wheel set, Hope Mono Mini hydraulic brakes. Lovely.

Anyway, I managed to complete the build today and am hoping to ride it for the first time on Friday. Let’s see how that goes. More on this to come…

Despite my best efforts to get a good hour's worth of laps at the local swimming pool, it wasn't necessarily to be. The main reason for my visit was to entertain my 3 year old son, mainly in the nursery pool, until the foam floats were introduced to the main pool that is (fun, fun, fun).

OK, so I didn't complete the anticipated 64 laps of the pool, but I did get plenty of excercise carrying, catching, pulling and dragging my son around the pool, whilst acting as diving board, safety mat, dive bomb target and underwater climbing platform.

Saying this, I'm convinced I ended up more more tired than if I had done the 64 lengths, so maybe all was not lost.

It was good fun though, so can't complain. However, it really isn't easy trying to train seriously when looking after a small child and a newborn.

Let's see if things get any easier over the weekend, or next week when I fully intend for the first time to commute the 15 miles into work on the bike. This I hope will enable me to start shedding the pounds a litte more efficiently.

All will be revealed…

By the time I actually got round to getting my running gear on it must've been at least 8:45 pm. Nonetheless, out in the drizzling rain I venture and pounded the tarmac for 30 minutes or so.

It was a good session, felt strong.

Let's see if I can get along to that swim tomorrow…

Last weekend, my second son was born. He's great and my eldest who is 3 is also really good about becoming as big brother, although he does start vying for more attention come the end of the day.

Fortunatley, I'm just entering my second week of paterity leave from work, which to be honest has been excellent. The baby is easy to deal with compared to looking after the toddler, who needs constant entertaining.

Back to the training…

In the past week I've managed a 45 minute swim and a 5 Km run. Not really enough considering the triathlon is only 13 weeks away. The buddies who I'm participating with are doing “brick” training sessions (bikde ride directly followed by a run).

I've got to start riding the bike into work to begin shifting this excess weight.

No training today, although carrying my 3 year old on my shoulders for several miles around London has to count for something…

more tomorrow…

The fact I'm debating must mean that I'm either trying to get out of doing it, or am finding something else to do instead.

I'll go for the midday slot when the local pool put on lane sessions from midday til 2:00 pm.
more later…

Anyway, as I step the training up, I'll post more to let you know of my suffering and sacrifice. More later.

There was a time when I could confidently quote the above without feeling guilty about bending the truth. Is it because I am still aspiring to fulfil all those activities I always dreamt of doing, or is it because I’m older, have family commitments and no time to do anything? Hmmm

I’ve just entered myself into the 2007 London Triathlon in the hope of fulfilling two ambitions. Firstly, to complete the event in one piece with a respectable time, second, to raise money for Asthma UK. I’m very happy to have entered into the event and effectively committed myself to completing it; however I worry about my ability to do so.

I am a confident person, I believe in myself and my abilities. It’s been a long time since I’ve actually partaken in such an event, it’ll be five years ago. Since then, I’ve got married, had a child and managed to reduce the amount of exercise I do quite dramatically. My worry about not being fit enough to complete the event is not without good reason. For starters, I haven’t begun training yet. With 5 months to go, I know I can do it; the question is when am I going to fit all this training in?

With my new commitments to my family, my home, and my job, by the time I get round to doing anything, it’s time to go to bed and start the day again. I’m not the most organised person at the best of times, so organising my life around a training regime is going to be interesting.

I’ve taken positive action this weekend, by making it my last blow-out weekend, where I eat and drink as much as I like in the knowledge that from now on I’m going to be leading a healthier and more active life. The problem is, I think I’ve been doing the same each weekend over the last two months.

This time though, it’s for real.

Over the next few months I’ll be writing about my efforts to get fit and healthy for the London Triathlon that I hope to complete on 5 August 2007.

Any advice is welcome…